


I Forgot Where We Were

by hbunn



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Injury, Borderlands 3 Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Gun Violence, Heavy Angst, They/Them Pronouns for Zer0 (Borderlands), bro love, rhysha - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29304888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hbunn/pseuds/hbunn
Summary: “You- you haven’t asked me any questions,” Fiona finally uttered, not turning her head or daring to see Rhys’ face once she had spoken.“Th-there’s a lot to ask,” Rhys finally answered, exhaling deeply while he said as much. “I, uh...I’m trying to think of the easy questions.”“There’s- there’s not any,” Rhys murmured.
Relationships: Rhys/Sasha (Borderlands), rhysha
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

Rhys couldn’t have been prepared for the elevator doors to his executive suite being thrown open and, despite his most desperate efforts over the last few months to find her, Fiona striding in, complete with a new look. Her hair fell longer over her shoulders, past the stand up collar of her sea green overcoat- the colors popping against her figure, completed with her very own bowler hat that she loved so much. The strip of red in her hair was the same as ever, if only a little faded against her curling hair.

He couldn’t believe it. He thought he was imagining the entire thing until Zer0’s voice struck through the chaos that reigned around them, around the Atlas base of operations.

“This must be a trick,” the assassin spoke, drawing their sword with one sleek motion, pointing it toward the woman who still advanced, a frown on her lips. “Step no further, impostor.”

“We don’t have time for it, Zer0,” she spoke, and her voice was the same. It was tired. But it was Fiona. “We’re all in danger, we need to—”

Zer0 lunged forward, swiping the sword up, only narrowly avoiding the woman’s frame to bring the blade’s point to a stop at her nose. “Must I repeat that?”

Fiona scowled and lifted her hand with ease to push the blade from her face, though she made no further advances, emerald eyes shifting past Zer0 to land on Rhys. “Look at me. Listen to me. It’s _me_.”

Rhys, ever wordless, could only stare, eyes wide. Zer0 did not budge, but neither did Fiona, though her frown steepened.

“If you’re Fiona, then tell us something she knows,” Zer0 spoke again, never dropping the poised posture, nor their blade. “That only she knows.”

Fiona sighed deeply, meeting Rhys’ eyes across the spacious office. “Rhys,” the woman uttered, her voice softening, “Before we went into the Vault, I asked you your intentions with my sister. You made stupid jokes. Like you always do. Something about notes in lockers, meeting by bike racks- but you said something really sweet about her.”

Rhys’ heart felt as if it were going to explode in his chest, his feet already bringing him forward to the woman before him.

“You said she was everything you’re no—”

Her words were cut off as the taller man threw his arms around her, Zer0 simply stepping aside as Rhys pulled his friend close. Fiona only allowed the moment to be exactly that- a moment- quickly pulling away to grip the sides of Rhys’ arms.

“We have to go, right now,” she told him, her eyes searching his face. “I’m really sorry about the base, but you’re more important than anything in this stupid office.”

Rhys did not argue as Fiona shifted to hold his flesh hand in her own, squeezing him tightly as the three of them stood another moment before Zer0 spoke up.

“He has escape plans,” the assassin remarked, pointing to the desk. “For emergencies only, tunnel under desk.”

Fiona quirked an eyebrow. “A tunnel under your desk,” she repeated, her tone looking for an explanation on that one.

Rhys could only grin. His voice was sure, but it was anything but steady, “I missed you, Fiona.”

Fiona’s eyes widened and she nearly laughed. “Come on, idiot.”

The destruction being wreaked around the base from the sky was visible through the high standing windows of the office. Fiona tried to ignore it altogether, very near shoving Rhys to his desk as her eyes darted back to the closed office doors. She watched as Rhys shifted to stand behind his desk, scanning the surface with a quick glance as her friend reached his leg beneath it before bringing his need up into the underside. There was a loud thud, the man recoiling with a yelp, barely managing to avoid tripping over his chair behind him.

Fiona blinked, looking to the floor beneath Rhys’ feet. “Where’s the tunnel?”

“Gonna be real, I missed the button,” Rhys wheezed, doubling over momentarily before snapping back into action.

Instead of using his knee the following time, the man opted to crouch and reach his arm beneath the desk and fumble around. Completely opposite to the loud strike of bone on wood, a sharp mechanical whirring sound filled the room, accompanied by the floor itself shifting. The desk simply slid away from Rhys on a patch of metal flooring, revealing a slightly depressed platform in a circular opening in the carpeted ground. Rhys looked up to his friend from his crouched position, managing a grin.

“A tunnel under my desk,” he announced, mimicking the same tone Fiona had had earlier. “And that’s only one of them!”

Fiona snorted, nodding. “I’m impressed, you paranoid jackass.”

Rhys shrugged before standing, “What can I say, having anxiety has its perks!”

“Let’s save the banter,” Zer0 piped up, ushering Rhys onto the platform. “Fiona, you stay with Rhys. I will hold them off.”

Fiona had joined Rhys onto the platform, her brows furrowing as she looked up to the assassin. Rhys’ eyes went wide and before another word could be spoke, his hand shot out, gripping Zer0’s forearm with enough strength to stop the Vault Hunter from shifting any further away.

“No, no, we are- we’re not doing that,” Rhys hurried out, seemingly disregarding when Zer0 tried to pull their arm free.

“There’s not enough room,” Zer0 replied, their tone even as it always was. “I’ll rendezvous at the point, and kill some pr—”

“ _No!_ ”

Both Fiona and Zer0 nearly jumped at just how loud Rhys’ voice grew, his own face twisting into an expression that was rare, barely existent, even, for the man. His fingers tightened around Zer0 and he shook his head.

“We’re all- we are _all_ going, together,” Rhys persisted, not batting an eye when an explosion went off frighteningly close to their location. “We’ll fit.”

There was a pause, but Zer0 had little time to argue as the elevator two rooms and two halls away dinged. A squadron of breach troopers filed in, making quick work of the distance. Rhys yelped, reaching over to the desk to slap his hand down on a button that blended into the top right drawer, a set of metal doors closing and sealing the main office.

It did little to help as the doors were suddenly riddled with heavy duty bullets that splintered the metal. Rhys shifted to grip Zer0 with both hands, yanking his friend into the arms of both himself and Fiona. Zer0 ducked their head as the door was practically ripped open, reaching around to draw their sword and as the blade digistructed, in one smooth movement they stabbed the blade into the control panel. All at once, the mechanics of the device activated, only at a higher speed. With the platform dropping faster than it was intended, though dodging the immediate onslaught of bullets, the safety protocols were bypassed for long enough that the protective sheet of metal nearly raised around the trio too late.

Even so, the drop was faster than Zer0 anticipated, their hand struck by the edge of the opening in the floor before they could withdraw their sword. The blade was left behind, driven into the circuitry, Zer0 quickly bringing their hand closer to their shieldless frame as it throbbed.

“Shit- Zer0!” Rhys cried, unable to crane his neck enough to see whether or not his friend’s damage was superficial, or worse.

“My blade, it is gone,” the assassin hissed, their frame hugged tight against Rhys and Fiona. “For those Maliwan bastards...”

“You can get another sword, Zer0, is your freakin’ hand okay!?” Fiona shouted, her wide eyes struggling to get a good enough look at the point of pain.

“I will be alright,” Zer0 muttered, pulling their hand as close to their own frame as they could while the metal tube continued descending further. “Prepare for a rough landing. It will be ugly.”

There was only a moment between their words and the capsule hitting its landing point, the entire structure groaning from the impact. The three were practically smacked into the walls of the escape tube, each uttering their own sounds of pain before managing to stabilize. Visible through a now broken glass window in the protective metal was the tunnels they had escaped to. Rhys was closest to said window, the man shifting to stand against the door.

“It won’t… open!” he struggled, pushing his frame against the sheet. “Fucking-”

“Punch it!” Fiona suggested, trying to scoot as far away from the man as she could.

“Punching it!” Rhys responded, raising his cybernetic arm to collide the red knuckles with the hinges the door was held to. It first dented, then with another well aimed strikes, the hinges snapped and the entire plate of metal collapsed to the ground outside the tube.

The racket it made echoed and reverberated sharply off the fairly small tunnels around them. Rhys slid out of the cylinder first, holding a hand out for Fiona to take to help her out, and then doing the same for Zer0. As the towering assassin stepped out, they shifted, tucking their wrist against their hip before looking around the area.

“We should get going,” they spoke quietly.

“Dude, don’t- don’t you- here, let me see your hand—” Rhys’ words were cut off by Zer0’s other palm shooting out, gently catching Rhys in the chest to keep him at arms’ length.

When the man looked up, finding the ever impassive mask displaying a simple but familiar kanji, one word that Rhys knew to advise. He took a deep breath and stepped back out of Zer0’s reach, nodding before simply proceeding down the tunnels. Fiona paused long enough to scan Zer0 for any possible information, but she got nothing. She turned and followed Rhys, her strides wide to fall in step beside her taller friend. The footsteps of all three were soon a repetitive echo that followed through the winding escape route.

“Will they follow us down? Should we- should we be running?” Fiona asked, glancing over her shoulder, stealing a look of Zer0 still holding their wrist to their side.

“The escape...route, tunnel, tube, _thing_ , reseals itself behind the uh- the actual—” Rhys paused after apparently struggling, frowning as his brows furrowed. “If they get down here, it’ll take them drilling through the floor and it’s like, uh- six tons of the metal? I-I forget, it wasn’t my top priority- Well, it was, kind of- _Point is_ , there’s a lot to… get through.”

The makings of a smile touched Fiona’s face. “Right. Where do these tunnels lead out to again?”

The entire passage way itself was only about nine feet in diameter, with a ceiling that seemed about that length as well. The entirety of the walls, ceilings, and even the floor, were made of the same looking material, a steel of some kind that looked fairly new to Fiona. The ground was almost pristine, with little to no dents on any surface around them. Overhead, intermittent fluorescent tube lights were fixed, lighting the way with a dim green illumination.

Fiona found herself looking around, scanning for any other information she could ascertain as Rhys sucked in air through his teeth.

“Well, they can- they can lead out to the entrance of Atlas,” he replied, eyes straight ahead, glancing up to the lights when they flickered. “Like, th-the base itself. The front doors, really- there’s a manhole sort of thing just outside the doors, o-on the walk way inside!”

Fiona had to snort to avoid laughing outright. “Do you really still call it a manhole?”

Rhys finally looked over to his friend, eyes wide as his face became a slight red. “D-do you _not_ call it a manhole? Ever?”

“No, me and most other cultured folks call it things like _utility hole_ and _maintenance hole_ ,” the woman answered, tilting her head as they walked side by side. “Hell, even sewer hole sounds less likely to get turned into a joke than _manhole_.”

Rhys couldn’t help but snort, lifting a hand to his face to hide his mouth. Fiona’s nose wrinkled as she looked across to her friend, her grin as wide as ever. As happy as she was simply walking beside him, something felt strange about the fact that he said nothing more, the conversation fading out as quickly as it began to be replaced by the sound of their footsteps. Fiona tried to focus more on the tunnels that just felt the same, over and over, repeating with every turn they took.

Barely anything changed about their surroundings, and when it finally did, it was only a pipe running from the floor up and into the wall halfway to the ceiling. It looked like it might carry water, but Fiona had no clue for sure. The silence around her finally brought her heart rate to a higher resting place before she managed to take in a deep breath that only alleviated so much of the pressure in her chest.

“You- you haven’t asked me any questions,” Fiona finally uttered, not turning her head or daring to see Rhys’ face once she had spoken.

A painful silence grew from the statement. Fiona nearly spoke again just to hear something other than the reverberating footsteps and her own heart.

“Th-there’s a lot to ask,” Rhys finally answered, exhaling deeply while he said as much. “I, uh...I’m trying to think of the easy questions.”

Fiona hid her wince. “Right.”

“There’s- there’s not any,” Rhys murmured.

“No, there isn’t.”

They came to a fork in the tunnels, the lights following both directions overhead. Rhys looked between the two and then sighed. “Zer0, was it left or right?”

“Right is always right,” Zer0 replied.

“Right, thank you.” The man took a deep breath and gestured for the aforementioned tunnel, though he did not meet Fiona’s eyes. “Lady’s first, right?”

Fiona did not reply as she started down the tunnel, her teeth grinding together as they continued, every passing second spent in silence just another ache in her chest. When she felt Rhys join her side again, she found herself torn between leaning into his arm or pulling away.

“I know there’s a lot to say, and I know I have a lot to explain, I do,” Fiona all but blurted out, finally looking over to her friend, only finding a blank look on his face. “But Rhys, can you just say _something_ ? Like, _anything_.”

The man abruptly came to a stop, his hands at his sides as they balled into loose fists. Fiona stopped too, turning to her friend as Zer0 remained a few paces behind them. The assassin went as far as moving to the walls of the tunnel, leaning against it and turning their head to look down the way they came. The tension was like a thick, ever expanding fog, and Fiona nearly burst as she searched her friend for any reaction. Her desperation was only masked in appearance, her voice and even her eyes telling Rhys everything he needed to know.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Rhys turned his head to look at Fiona. She very narrowly hid just how much it hurt to see the tears welled up in his brown eye, his brows drawn together tightly.

“Fiona, we _looked_ for you,” he whispered. “We- we never _stopped_.”

The woman’s shoulders dropped, shaking her head as he continued.

“I just- Like, it was different, back _then_ , before Promethea,” Rhys croaked, turning his head to look completely away from her. He brought his arm up, wiping his face in the crook of his elbow, “wh-when we weren’t, like- I don’t know, w-we weren’t- we didn’t _feel_ like a family ye-yet, we didn’t _say_ the words, bu-but we—”

“Rhys,” Fiona breathed, daring a step closer to him.

“I we-went missing, an-and I was- I was _so_ lost, Fiona, I’d never felt that way before,” the man sobbed out, his shoulders shaking now. “B-but I- Fiona, th-that was like- that was _nothing_ , _nothing at all_ , com-compared- compared to—”

Fiona reached a hand out to touch Rhys’ arm, waiting for his reaction before shifting to turn the man completely, pulling him into her embrace. Despite the difference in height, Rhys had no problem bowing his head and letting his brow rest against Fiona’s shoulder. She tucked her own head against his collarbone, frowning against his vest as he all but clung to her.

“She’s okay,” Fiona murmured, her hands resting against his back as she held him. “You can see her soon. I promise.”

“It’s like everything- everything was just _over_ ,” he continued, his voice barely above a whisper. “Like we didn’t even- like we weren’t family. Like you guys just l-le-left. Left _me_.”

Fiona squeezed her eyes shut, squeezing Rhys tighter for a few seconds. “No, big guy. Never.”

A long moment passed before Zer0 spoke up, their voice eerily bouncing off the walls.

“My friends, we must go- they will be here very soon,” they advised, but their voice was anything but impatient.

The pair pulled apart and with one final look exchanged, they turned back down the darkening tunnels and got moving again. Zer0 paused long enough that the two noticed the lack of a third set of shoes on the metal, looking back as they realized in unison only to find Zer0 standing in the same place. Their head was turned where neither of them could see, their figure unmoving.

“Z-Zer0, buddy?” Rhys called, taking a tentative step back toward his friend.

A moment passed before they pushed themselves off the wall, advancing once more. “They are coming, Rhys.”

Panic erupted on Rhys’ face and he stammered for a second, waiting until Zer0 was beside him before falling into step with the lanky Vault Hunter. Fiona glanced over her shoulder and then looked across Rhys’ chest, finding Zer0’s entire self impassive, without so much as a limp or a hum in their tone to indicate anything at all.

She didn’t like not being able to assess a person, and the lessening light bulbs overhead did her no favors.

“The tunnels lead into a sewer just ahead,” Rhys rushed out, his pace increasing until he broke into a full jog.

He was soon surpassing his friends to reach a barely visible wheel attached to the left wall. A pipe ran from it and into the floor, and as Rhys gripped it to start turning it, Fiona realized there was the tiniest of slits in the ground surrounding where the pipe connected. It spread out about four feet along the walls, opening up with a grinding creak with every full turn Rhys made. He struggled for a moment longer before the opening was four feet wide, a mechanism attached to the pipe and wheel that Fiona could barely make out in the darkness.

“Is it- it’s a real sewer, isn’t it?” Fiona balked, her nose turning up at the idea.

“Well it- it’s not as _gross_ as a normal one?” Rhys replied, taking a moment to breathe. “It’s… maintained? So it’s not- it’s not gross. Usually.”

Fiona squinted at him for a moment before shaking her head. “All right, let’s get into the not _really-sewer_ , we need as much distance between us and those bastards as we can get.”

“Shall I go first, then?” Zer0 piped up, looking between the two.

“Can you- are you gonna be able to with your hand?” Rhys asked hesitantly, grimacing as he dared a glance to the hand in question.

“My hand will be quite alright,” they replied, stepping to the edge of the opening. “I take no risks, Rhys.”

Rhys’ grimace didn’t disappear. “That’s kind of misleading, you know.”

Zer0 simply flashed a brief wink on their mask before stepping onto the ladder and lowering themself into the darkness below one rung at a time. When the sound of their friend hitting the ground below echoed back up, Fiona looked to Rhys. The man was frowning as he stared down into the darkness, not noticing her gaze locked on him.

“Stubborn,” Rhys muttered before shifting to climb down the ladder as well.

“Can’t tell who got it from who,” Fiona remarked with a smirk, earning a slight over the shoulder sneer from Rhys.

After he had hit the bottom as well, Fiona cast one more quick look around the tunnels before joining the pair below.

* * *

The sewer was smaller than the escape tunnels, only four feet in width and height, leaving the trio hunkered over as they proceeded. With a wheel at the bottom of the ladder, Rhys closed the overhead entrance, sinking them into total darkness without the dimly flickering bulbs to guide them. As the last shreds of light had faded, Rhys’ cybernetic eye began to hum, the blue of the synthetic iris lighting up before suddenly casting a wide cone of light, the beam projecting far into the darkness.

Fiona blinked rapidly as she adjusted her eyes, squinting them just in case Rhys were to turn and look at her. “That’s insanely bright, and this sewer is insanely dark- and also does _not_ smell like a sewer.”

As she prepared for, Rhys instinctively turned to look at her, the heavy duty light nearly causing Fiona to see spots as she snapped her head away. Rhys hurried out an apology before looking ahead once more, leading the way.

“So, it’s- it’s a special system, a lot of places on Promethea have it- see, there’s an automatic process where all the sewage gets flushed out with specially treated water and chemicals,” the man explained as they all but crawled through the space. His voice bounced off the walls in an even more strange way, the echoes lasting for seconds at a time as he continued, “It all gets washed out into this big- like, strainer thing. All the trash and solid stuff gets caught and disposed of, and the contaminated water and liquids get purified and _also_ treated.”

“Oh, that’s kinda cool.” Fiona nearly cringed at her own voice amplified. “These aren’t yours, right?”

“Psht, no, I just think they’re neat,” he replied, the smile in his voice audible. “The, the uh, escape tunnels, those were fully Atlas, but, like, I always wanted them to meet the sewers. Cool escape route.”

“These were here before, escape tunnels came after,” Zer0 spoke, their voice quiet and hardly ringing back. “They meet purposely.”

Rhys glanced over his shoulder, Fiona easily catching sight of the grin. “Isn’t it cool?”

“Oh, the coolest,” the woman agreed, her friend’s smile contagious.

The three of them grew quiet, the noise around them seeming to all at once deter all of them from conversation. Their footsteps carried them through more winding tunnels that eventually started to widen just a bit. Not long after that, they arrived to a ladder sitting against the wall that divided into two more tunnels. It led straight up, no mechanism trailing behind the ladder, to the maintenance hole cover that no doubt exited onto the streets of the Meridian Metroplex.

“The coffee shop is just overhead,” Rhys explained, grabbing the first rung of the ladder and slipping into the enclosed area that followed the metal bars upward. “When we get out into the street, we need to immediately get inside it.”

Fiona looked to Zer0, the assassin still having to tilt their head forward a bit to stand up in the tunnels. “A coffee shop?”

“Belongs to a friend,” Zer0 replied, watching as Rhys began his climb. “You might get to meet them soon. Their name’s Lorelei.”

Fiona hummed, waiting until she no longer saw Rhys’ shoes to speak. “You got hurt earlier, didn’t you? Like, more than a sore wrist.”

“A common event that will only worry him,” Zer0 answered, their voice quietening considerably. “I will fix it soon.”

“Just tell me if it’s more than your hand?” Fiona ventured, her words slowly spoken as she narrowed her eyes at the Vault Hunter.

“Unfortunately, it reached my shoulder, as well.” They took a step forward, peering up the escape route to find Rhys waiting with his hand on the maintenance hole cover. They stepped back, gesturing to the ladder. “Say nothing to him.”

Fiona worked her jaw before shaking her head. “I’m not going next. You are.”

“It would be w—”

“You’re going next or I’m ratting on you,” Fiona interrupted, looking over to the other with a stern expression on her face. When Zer0 looked to meet her eyes, they paused for a long second.

“Hey, uh, guys? Everything okay down there? Waiting on you!” Rhys called, his voice carried down but not echoing like before.

“We’re coming up now!” Fiona called back, leaning under the opening. She stepped back again, gesturing widely. “If your arm won’t snap off, get moving.”

Zer0 did not move or speak for a moment, then flashed yet another kanji across their mask. The red light from it spilled an equally red illumination around the tunnel, Fiona completely unsure of what was being said, but was satisfied nonetheless when Zer0 complied. She watched as the red light faded and the assassin climbed onto the ladder, waiting a few moments after Zer0’s figure disappeared completely to join her friends on the rise.

The metal screeching of the cover was enough to make Fiona cringe, squinting as she looked up and into the ribbons of daylight slipping down. With the manhole removed completely, Rhys was quick to scramble off the ladder and out of sight, Zer0 soon following. Fiona found herself gaining a burst of speed before reaching the street, making a quick assessment of her surroundings. She heaved herself out of the sewer entrance completely and made a beeline for the coffee shop nearby, the chalkboard outside the establishment still boasting a brightly written menu.

The doorway was sprinted through for the third and final time, the overhead electronic bell ringing softly with the detected motion as she approached the counter that her friends stood by.

“All right, plans, let’s consolidate,” Fiona announced, her eyes scanning the inside of the building. It was all devices and machines to prepare and perfect the various drinks and foods the shop had to offer. Assorted pictures and awards hanging from the walls caught light on their glass frames and metal bases. Behind another counter lined with various coffee machines there were deactivated, unmoving bots, along with means to make coffee apparently left in the open in a hurry.

“Okay, so, Lorelei will definitely be looking for us,” Rhys started, turning to seat himself in one of the tall bar stools. “That means if we can get back in contact with her and Atlas forces, we can put together plans to get back inside HQ, and- well, go from there.”

Fiona blinked, glancing to the door as her brows furrowed. “You want to fight an entire invasion force?”

Rhys paused. “Well, yeah, if that’s what we have to do!”

The woman stopped, at a loss for words. She stammered at first, her voice almost shaking as she finally spoke, “Maliwan has control over like, most of the planet- Katagawa has a laser! Like, a huge space cannon! And those Siren twins? Rhys, this- this is bigger than Atlas!”

The man shook his head just a bit, blinking. “Fiona, what do you mean?”

“This is galaxy wide!” she continued, throwing her hands up. “It’s not- it’s not just Helios, o-or Pandora this time, it’s, like, everywhere! _They_ are everywhere! And they have two sirens hellbent on- I don’t know, universal domination or something!?

“An-and, like- Rhys, I really understand, you put so much into rebuilding this company, but, dude.” She paused long enough to take a quick breath, not giving him space to interject as she went on, “It’s bigger than just your company!”

“My company is helping Promethea,” Rhys finally protested, standing up off of the stool once more. “The people who are defending themselves from Maliwan- they need my weapons! They need the things I make.”

“If Atlas wasn’t _here_ , Maliwan wouldn’t be either,” Fiona argued, gesturing vaguely to the door behind them. “All they want is to say they have more shit absorbed into their megacorporation bullshit!”

“You know that’s not the whole story, Fiona!” he fumed. “If they have my guns, they have more fuel for their armies, and the good guys _lose_ to the psychopaths that, just like you said, are trying to take over the universe!”

“ _You_ matter more than the stupid company!” she practically shouted, pointing her hands out to him.

“If that was true, you wouldn’t have _abandoned_ **_me!_ **”

The words seemed to reverberate off the walls around them as soon as they left Rhys’ mouth. It sunk in just as quickly as it was uttered, Fiona’s eyes widening, while Rhys’ chest heaved from only a short distance away. She watched as his face gradually, after only a few moments of silence, began to lose the tension, frustration, even anger, melting away to be replaced by the compete opposite.

“Fiona, I—”

“We told you to back out!” Fiona retaliated, her hands forming fists. “We tried- we _tried_ to tell you! That was us, trying to- to _warn_ you! You _knew_ the war was getting worse! You knew, Rhys!”

“My friends, we must stop,” Zer0 finally spoke up, looking between the pair.

Silence hung in the air like heavy chains, and whatever semblance of regret Rhys had only moment before seemed to dissipate, faster than it appeared.

“Fuck you, Fiona!”

“Rhys, you have to stop th—”

“No, stay out of this Zer0!” Rhys turned his attention back to Fiona, jabbing his flesh and bone finger through the air at Fiona. “You’ve been with me- with me this _whole_ time, Fiona, except for the literal _worst_ goddamned moments of my life! Where were you when Helios fell? Where were you when I had _ripped myself apart_ , all for the sake of that stupid fucking _planet_?!

“We spent three and and a half years of our lives trying to build this shit back up, because _I wanted_ to make a difference! I would be the difference, I was going to help people, and it _wasn’t_ going to be like _HIM!_ ” Tears had been building, and spilled from his eyes as his voice loudened but only broke further, “And that’s what this was! That was gon-gonna be us, _together_ , like a _FAMILY!_ And you fu-fucking _left me!_ ”

Fiona finally found it in her to disregard the drum like pounding of her heart, her entire figure shaking.

“They were coming after us! They were going to take us if we didn’t _disappear!_ ” Fiona screamed, her eyes wide and full of fire. “I had to keep Sasha safe! She’s my sister, and _I_ had to keep her safe if you fucking weren’t going to! They were looking for Vault Hunters, Rhys, they were looking for you and me! It wasn’t all about you this time, and you were too _fucking_ stubborn to realize that! She was in danger!”

“She was my fucking _wife!_ ” Rhys cursed, flipping his hand around to display the wedding band still tucked just above his knuckle. “All I ever wa-wanted to do was protect her!”

“If we hadn’t left when we did, they would have found you and used you to get to me!” she retorted, her own eyes finally pricking with tears. “Do you get that?! We couldn’t _tell_ you that! Who the hell knows what you would have done, because I can think of at least two stupid things you might have gone for!”

“We were a family, Fiona! We’re supposed to tell each other everything!” Rhys bellowed.

“Not when it gets you fucking _killed!_ ”

“I would have died for both of you in a hea-heart beat, and if you _knew_ that, if you _really_ knew that, none of this would have even **_happened!_ **”

That seemed to force the pair back into complete silence, both of them crying fiercely as the words shot across the room took their toll. Rhys practically stumbled backward to catch himself against the counter. Fiona’s eyes looked anywhere but his face, her own feet carrying her closer to the surface of different counter to rest her hand on, propping herself up as their sobs created a duet of desolation. Zer0 kept their distance from Rhys, though their attention never seemed to leave their friend as he shook against the only thing holding him away from the ground.

“Why can’t you j-just admit, ju-just admit you did leave?” Rhys sobbed, shaking his head. “Wh-whatever you meant by it- wh-whatever the fucking _goal_ wa-was, Fiona, yo-you left me. Sh _-she_ left m-me. Why can’t you just _admit_ you were wrong?”

Fiona brought her free hand up to her face, sniffling as she did her best to wipe away the tears that still flowed. “B-because I br-broke everyone’s h-heart.”

Rhys scoffed, blinking away what tears he could as he looked up, directionless, to the cracked and crumbling ceiling above them. “Yeah, F-Fiona, I thought that was obvious at this point.”

She didn’t speak again, sweeping the strands of hair behind her ear that had fallen before. The woman took a deep breath, finally dragging her line of sight to Rhys’ face. He was still leaning heavily into the counter, his own chest rising and falling with breaths he took to recompose himself. She was only able to watch for a brief moment before her eyes found one of the various cracks that had been left in the floor from the ongoing war.

Seconds bled into minutes, and anything past the first two felt like eons long. It was a mixture of relief and only heightened distress for Fiona when Rhys finally spoke again.

“I saw you looking at her picture,” he whispered, his voice still breaking as he spoke. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t even have it on my d-desk, for the first few months. I couldn’t- couldn’t even look at her. Not without…”

“We were nev-never going to stay gone forever,” Fiona murmured.

“How was I supposed to _know_ that, when one day, y-you had told me to _abandon_ the only good thing I’ve ever done in my life, and then my two closest friends abandoned _me_ the next?” His words stayed quieter than before, the scratchiness in his voice giving away just how sore his throat was.

“I don’t _know!_ ” Fiona cried out, the roughness of her words reflecting the same as her friend’s. “I just- I don’t know! I was _scared!_ I didn’t- Rh-Rhys, I didn’t know what else to do! I ju-just- I just needed Sasha safe!”

“We could have done that _together_ ,” the man argued, pushing himself off the counter once more, taking another step forward, closer to Fiona. “Like, th-there’s- there’s not even a single reason to keep _fighting_ if you’re not even going to try and apologize! Because- wh-whatever you _wanted_ , whatever you tried to _do_ , still fucking- it still _left me_ by myself, not knowing if my fucking _family_ was alive.”

Fiona hated that her lip quivered, trying to press them together to hide that she shook at all. She darted her eyes away from the man, no longer replying at all. She vaguely registered the sound of Rhys shifting again, the man looking to Zer0.

“This discussion’s d-done,” the man spoke without looking to Fiona. “Do you think w-we can- I don’t know, rig up something from in here to contact Lorelei?”

“If you had let me, I would have shown you this thing.” The assassin stepped behind the counter Rhys stood against, reaching beneath the machines to pull out a small handheld device. “Emergency calls.”

Rhys nodded, sniffling as he reached up to wipe his face. “It looks- it looks a little crappy.”

“Broken, needs repairs,” Zer0 replied, setting it down on the countertop. “On the bright side, while it’s fixed, we have the coffee.”

Rhys scoffed, and the sound was almost a genuine laugh. He took the device into his hands before moving past Zer0 to step around the counter. “While _I_ fix it, you mean,” the man murmured as he began searching every drawer, cabinet, and otherwise covered compartment until he has a small set of extra tools to work with.

“My hand is damaged, or else I would help you out,” the assassin countered, their tone mild. “On that note… please rush.”

Silence fell over the coffee shop with ease after that. Fiona slid into a seat nearby, crossing her arms over the countertop top. Her eyes unfocused as the rest of the world faded out.

* * *

The near screeching of the device from Rhys’ hands snapped Fiona’s attention back up, blinking her eyes as it continued uttering a mess of chattering that she couldn’t discern. She watched as Rhys fumbled, muttering to himself while Zer0 looked on as well, until the racket clarified and there were very intelligible voices coming through the small speakers.

Rhys scrambled, hitting several smaller buttons and tweaking the thin antenna on its top before attempting to speak over the mess of communications.

“This is Strongfork, repeat, Rhys Strongfork, needing a secure line!” he half shouted into the receiver. It crackled again, Zer0 taking a step closer as it hummed and a few more panicked voices came over the line.

“ _Who needs a secure line?_ ” came back a voice he was only barely familiar with.

“Rhys! Rhys Strongfork!” the man cried, his hands trembling as he visibly stopped himself from shaking the device in frustration. “Do you copy!?”

“ _Man in the sky copies you, sir! Transferring you now!_ ”

Another pause filled with hissing and static. Fiona tentatively climbed out of the booth but ventured no further than the seat opposite hers. She watched as her companions listened closely, her own ears straining, waiting to hear something.

“ _Rhys, is that you?!_ ”

“Lorelei!” Rhys practically whined, his shoulders dropping as he brought the device closer to his face. “Listen! Is this secure!?”

“ _Of course it is, arse for brains!”_ they shouted, their voice stabilizing a bit through the static. “ _What do you take me for? I would never put you in harm’s way!”_

Rhys sighed heavily, bringing the device to rest against his forehead. “L-Lorelei, no, I know, I just- Listen, we-we’re at your coffee shop! Me, Zer0, and- and uh—”

The man turned his head to focus on Fiona for long enough that his exact kind of confusion and hesitancy was felt by her.

“An-and another survivor.”

Fiona had no time to really react as their conversation proceeded.

“ _When we cut through the Maliwan bastards in HQ, we found your office empty, an-and Zer0’s sword and- Rhys, we thought you were bloody dead!_ ” his friend continued. “ _We thought he got his grubby little stupid hands on you! Or- or something! What even happened?!_ ”

“Listen, I promise, I’ll explain everything later,” Rhys spoke, glancing to the windows of the store. “We’ve already been in here, for like, I don’t know, half an hour? We escaped through the secret passage under my desk and followed the pipeline here- I-I’m not hurt, not her either, bu-but Zer0 busted their hand on the way out, we could _really_ use some backup like, soon.”

Static came back, the whining of the device piercing the air again and the three of them tensed up while listening.

“Lor-Lorelei?!” Rhys cried, smacking the side of the gadget.

There was another moment of garbled noises before Lorelei’s voice was heard once more.

“ _We’ve got Vault Hunters here, they were dealing with the Calypso bullshit- I’m sending some of them to come get you!_ ” she elaborated. “ _I’m- My hands are tied, I can’t exactly- fuck, Rhys, listen- who’s the other person with you?”_

Rhys glanced to Fiona once again, shaking his head. “It’s, uh, it’s- It’s really a long, very long, story, it would be easier if we just do this in person!”

“ _No, Rhys, that’s not what I meant- Listen, I know it’s been rough, but you- Agh, fuck all!_ ”

Their voice disappeared and for another moment, static came back through, but unlike before, other unintelligible voices were being transmitted behind it all. Rhys’ brows furrowed, looking to Zer0 as his face fell.

“Lo- Hey, Lo, are you okay?!”

“ _Rhys?_ ”

The voice that spoke through from the other side wasn’t Lorelei’s, but despite the man’s fears, the unexpected response did not evoke panic in his chest. He froze, his fingers tightening around the instrument in his palms as Fiona shifted closer, her steps carrying her over in an instant.

“Y-you- Th-that’s—” Fiona’s stammers were not enough to bring Rhys out of his trance.

The man uttered a sob, eyes staring into the speaker as if he expected a video transmission to appear.

“S-Sasha?”

“ _Rhys, it’s- Rhys, it’s me!”_ the woman cried from the other end, her voice full of the tears that he knew were bursting from her eyes. “ _Rhys, baby, I’m- Baby, I’m so sorry, Rhys, I’m so—_ ”

“Sasha, I-I’m- Sasha, babe, I lo- Sasha, a-are you okay?” he sobbed into the receiver, his figure shaking as he nearly collapsed, hunched over. “Baby, I’m- Oh my god, are you- are you okay, are you- are you safe? Lo-Lorelei, they—”

 _“I’m okay, I promise- I can-can’t come with them, w-we can’t go with the Vault Hunters I’m- I can’t leave the- Listen, it’s gonna be okay,”_ Sasha continued, her voice never even again. “ _Just g-get home safe, I-I’m gonna be here, I-I’ll b-be here when you get home! I promise, Rhys, I’ll be here, I’m with Lorelei, th- they- We’re gonna keep each other safe!_ ”

“I-I’ll be there soon, baby,” he whispered, sniffling as he clung to the communicator. “I’m coming, Sasha, I-I’ll be there.”

“ _I’ll- I’ll be waiting, Rhys, I’ll be here._ ”

The communicator switched hands again, the hissing replaced quickly by Lorelei’s voice. “ _I’ve got them on their way, we’ll get you back here safe, soon, buddy,”_ she assured. “ _Just be on the lookout, they’re heading to the shop now! And absolutely_ do not _go anywhere, it’s not safe right now!”_

“Co-copy that,” Rhys croaked, one of his stiff hands finally leaving the device to wipe his face. “You t-two, you both stay safe, got me? That’s an or-order.”

Lorelei managed a tense chuckle. “ _Will do, Captain Obvious. Just, uh… get back here soon, all right? Need you to be here._ ”

“Be there as soon as p-possible,” Rhys replied, smiling just a bit.

As if on cue, the noise from the other side was replaced by static, the racket becoming unbearable before Rhys finally switched it off altogether. He hid it back around the counter where Zer0 had taken it from, taking a deep breath as he moved back to his friend’s side. He made no efforts to look at Fiona and he hoped it wasn’t obvious just how much he struggled to avoid her eyes.

“How bad’s your hand now, buddy?” Rhys asked softly, not daring to reach for it. “I know I’m no, uh, doctor, especially for- for a special kinda guy like yourself, but you know.”

Zer0 hummed. “It’s not that bad, Rhys, you just worry far too much. New-U or a health kit will fix it.”

“You lie way too easily, though,” Rhys muttered, sniffling. “I can hack the New-U after you use it, and see what gets updated or fixed or whatever, I bet that’s a thing. I b-bet I can catch you in a lie.”

“Interesting idea.” They paused long enough for Rhys’ attention to shift back up to their helmet, the dim red light of a smile covering the man’s face. “Worry about your wife, first. She’s waiting for you.”

“I can multitask.”

Despite a reluctant Zer0, Rhys was finally allowed to use his arm to scan his friend’s injury, discovering exactly what was ailing the assassin. Amidst Rhys fussing almost immediately about not being told about the extent of the wound, Fiona’s attention grabbed by movement in the streets outside. The small windows were closed, but the door gave a very small view into the outside streets from the glass pane taking up a third of the entrance’s surface. Beyond the Maliwan signs that stood on the sidewalk, there were figures moving towards them. Fiona narrowed her eyes at their frames before shifting, walking backwards to Rhys and Zer0.

“Th-those- Hey, guys, we got company!” she said, her voice seemingly indecisive on whether to be loud or not.

Her call brought the other two to look up, the appearance of the Calypso’s fanatics familiar to both of them. The assortment of mostly humanoid soldiers of the Siren twins were running full speed, screaming, toward the coffee shop from only a short distance down the road.

“Weapons, look for weapons!” Fiona cried, scrambling through the near maze like interior of the shop. “Zer0, get behind the far counter!”

The assassin could not have protested if they wanted to, already being half shoved by Rhys to take cover as instructed. As Fiona joined them, all three of them partially hunkered over, she looked across the tools Rhys had amounted earlier, but not with much hope.

“You good with a, uh… espresso scoop?” Rhys asked, his own voice full of doubt.

“Not for a few years,” Fiona replied, looking back to see their enemies were on their literal doorstep. “Lorelei kept an emergency communicator but no _guns?_ ”

“Listen, she works in mysterious ways, and after a while, you just stop questioning it,” Rhys offered, sighing heavily before grabbing a screwdriver from the toolset he had scraped together. “Zer0, this can work as a stand in for your sword, right?”

“That’s not funny, Rhys,” they deadpanned.

“We don’t have a lot of options, jokes are all I have!”

The frantic shouting from the fanatics outside became distant, coupled with a very close, very rapid beeping that gave Fiona all the heads up she needed.

“Get down!”

In just a few seconds, an explosion erupted, blowing the door completely down and tearing through the windows. Rhys shifted first, lifting his mechanical arm as it clicked and hummed. Fiona watched wide eyed as a small spherical device was pushed out of his palm, the man quickly hurling it over their only barrier and into the unlucky face of one of the fanatics.

“Down, down!” Rhys hissed.

Only a moment passed between his throw and the device clicking loudly, the panels opening from the top of it to release a bright flash of light and a screech of a noise. The cries of the foot soldiers rang out along with the apparent flash bang’s effects, and with them, Fiona rose to her feet to draw the hidden pistol from within her coat’s sleeve. She spun the barrels to lock in the Shock bullet, taking aim before firing at an electrical device nearest to the most amount of adversaries. It sparked to life before practically exploding, electrocuting three of the invading fanatics and leaving them prone as Fiona ducked back down.

“Rhys, do you have anymore shit up your sleeve!?” Fiona asked as she slid her second and final bullet into the Roshambo’s chamber.

“Uh, well—” The man’s hand curled into a fist, palm facing himself as a singular wide blade shot up and out of his knuckles, the gray metal of it matching that of his wrist joint.

Fiona’s eyes widened. “Oh, that’s sick.”

Rhys managed a half hearted grin, which was quickly wiped off his face as all three of them jolted at the scream of the fanatic launching herself over their line of defense. The woman already had her rifle raised, her eyes wide and her grin stretching across her face.

“Time to _DIE!_ ”

The bullet that embedded itself into the fanatic’s face burst with electricity, the blue element causing her to convulse before collapsing. Zer0 shifted next, ripping the rifle from the now dead soldier’s hands and immediately standing, the muzzle of the gun simply moving side to side as the assassin emptied out the magazine inside the shop. Every visible enemy dropped with pained screams, leaving a silence that the gun’s noise seemed to echo in. None of the trio shifted, the stillness seeming to stretch for an eternity.

However, the revving of outrunner engines soon motivated them to shift, Zer0 all but tossing the gun away before pulling their arm back to their torso, a soft groan leaving them as Rhys scrambled upright. The man stayed at Zer0’s uninjured side, ensuring Fiona followed as he led his friend to the door. Before they even got through the doorway, the two outrunners they had heard became visible, one driven by a thickly clad figure with a Skag of all things, sat neatly in the driver’s lap. In the other vehicle close behind was a woman with familiar bright blue tattoos swirling around her dark skin, her blue tinged black hair pulled back.

She was the first to screech to a stop, standing up in her vehicle to look past the mess on the street to the three exiting the shop.

“Rhys, Zer0, and Fiona!” she greeted, her grin wide. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all at last.”

She seemed unfazed at the lack of response by the three, leaping onto the asphalt to close the distance between herself and them. Before she reached them, however, her eyes darted up, the grin disappearing in an instant. She shouted, her skin lighting up as six arms identical to her tattooed limb appeared around her in ethereal blue illumination.

Despite her quick reaction, those she sought to warn could not run faster than the duo of Psychos launching themselves from the roof of the coffee shop with screams of insanity. Zer0 and Rhys were crashed into by one of them, Rhys’ head hitting the ground first as Zer0 took most of the Psycho’s weight. Beside them, Fiona’s legs were dove into by the other Psycho, but with his failed trajectory, his face smacked into the asphalt anyway with a wet thud.

Even with the speed that Fiona scrambled to Rhys’ side and the Siren reached her hands out to attack, the Psycho grabbed hold of both Zer0’s biceps, screeching out laughter as he jerked them up and back. Just as a sextuple steel ball bola of pure Siren energy sent the Psycho flying off of the assassin’s back, they uttered a scream of unbridled agony, shifting onto their uninjured side with a sharp curse.

“Flak, quickly!” the Siren shouted, her arms disappearing as she crouched beside Rhys’ unmoving figure. She nodded to Fiona, carefully pulling the man’s limp form up and into her arms. “Get in my gunner seat, we must go now.”

Flak was just as quick and careful to bring Zer0 up into their own arms, the group wasting no time in reboarding the outrunners before racing back through the destroyed streets to the Atlas campus.


	2. Chapter 2

Moving through the battered streets of Meridia blurred across Fiona’s periphery. Her wide eyes were locked just below her where Amara, the Siren, drove frantically toward the Atlas facility. Slumped across Amara’s lap was Rhys’ body, still unmoving, other than being ungracefully bumped and swayed around with the desperate driving he was subjected to in his unconsciousness. The secret entrance is where they disembarked the outrunners, everything fading together as they hurried across the Atlas properties.

She vaguely registered Lorelei’s voice crackling out of Flak and Amara’s ECHOs, but her gaze stayed locked on Rhys as Amara carried him against her chest. The group of five hurried across the property, arriving soon at the medical building where Lorelei greeted them at the door, their eyes widening at the sight of their injured friends.

“Thought you were supposed to keep them safe, not have them fucked up more!” they near shouted, following Flak at the hip as they carried Zer0 to the nearest bed. “Zer0, mate, what the hell happened!?”

“Far too much today that I didn’t prepare for, emotionally,” they answered, groaning as Flak let their frame sink into the mattress. “Please, he hit his head, heal him before you heal me.”

Lorelei nodded, waving Flak over to Rhys as she turned and retrieved several syringes from the empty bed behind her. “Where’re you hurt, Zer0?”

Wordlessly, Zer0 used their non injured hand to indicate the other, groaning softly as Lorelei made quick work of injecting the limb with the bright red fluid. One bed over, Flak was doing the same for Rhys’ bruised forehead and nose. Lorelei grimaced before focusing on Zer0 once again.

“The missus ain’t gonna be happy,” Lorelei muttered, glancing to Zer0’s arm to ensure the healing was taking effect. 

“Yes, where is she now?” Zer0 asked, lifting their head to search the room.

“She had to—”

A sound that could only be described as a wail interrupted any conversation that had been going on in the room otherwise. Everyone’s attention shifted to the doorway where Sasha stood, only remaining there for the briefest of moments before rushing to the bed Rhys lay in, eyes closed as the bruises on his skin gradually became lighter. The limp in her step did not go unnoticed by her sister, who quickly joined her at Rhys’ side, the older of the two only able to open her mouth before being drowned out.

“What- what happened to him!?” Sasha cried, looking to Zer0 and back to Flak. “What did- Can you give him another one!?”

“The only needed treatment was a suborbital injection,” Flak replied plainly, their eye training on Sasha’s hands before they took a wide step backwards to make for more room. “He should regain consciousness in a matter of moments.”

As they spoke reassurances, Sasha hunched over her husband’s frame, hands moving to cup his face all while she burst with sobs. Her nose nearly brushed against his, green eyes searching his features for movement as her thumbs stroked his protruding cheekbones.

“Come on, Rhys, don’t keep me waiting,” she whimpered, her tears slipping down her nose. “I know- I know, I’m- Ju-just wake up, I n-need you to be here, be here and b-be mad—”

Rhys’ face twitched before he made a sound, groaning loudly and bringing her wide eyed gaze to his shuddering eyelids. As the purple bruising nearly disappeared completely, the man’s eyes fluttered open, blinking rapidly as he adjusted to the light that was all but blotted out by the silhouetted face above him. He finally squinted, his vision focusing on the features of the love of his life. Despite how quickly his eyes adjusted, his mind slowed to a near halt, staring at devastatingly heartbroken features of his very heart.

“Rhys!” Sasha cried, her hands trembling against his skin.

The room around them seemed to disappear as Rhys binked again, his eyes growing wide. His brows furrowed together as he looked into the emerald greens that stared back, the only precious gems he would ever need to see for the rest of his life. His flesh and blood hand shifted from the surface of the mattress, lifting past her shoulders and the thick locs that had grown longer.

“Rhys, ba-baby, I’m, I’m so sorry, I’m never going to leave you again,” Sasha wept, bringing her own hand away from his face, only to press his palm against her own. The warmth of his touch was leaned into heavily, tears still flowing freely as she struggled to find words. “I s-swear, an-and I’ll never- n-never, for the rest of my life, I won’t let you be alone again, I won’t!”

His thumb moved over her cheek the same way as hers, barely blinking anymore as his own lips parted, open and silent.

“I’ll do an-anything and everything, I’ll make it up, I promise,” she continued, now pausing to catch her breath between sentences. “I did this wrong, I did everything s-so, _so_ wrong, an-and I won’t make a mistake again, never again, no-not like this. I promise, I wo-won’t ever b-break your heart again, Rhys, not until- n-not until I—”

She dissolved into a mess of sobs, her shaking fingers squeezing tightly around his hand. Despite her attempts to calm herself, Sasha could barely see past her tears, let alone grasp composure again. She felt Rhys’ cybernetic arm shift at his side before the cool metal of his palm pressed into the other side of her face, the tears falling from her eyes allowing her clarity for only one moment, to see the slightest of smiles soften her husband’s features.

“You’re as beautiful as the day I lo-lost you.”

A pitiful laugh escaped Sasha before she sniffled, her forehead pressing gently against Rhys’. “Y-you- you g-got a n-new look.”

“I call it my siege s-stache,” he whispered, his own tears escaping as he shifted his hand to the back of her neck. “D-do you li-like it?”

“It’s perfect,” she whispered back.

Only a moment more could be shared between the two before an explosion shook the facility, bringing the group back to the reality of their situation.

“That was too damn close,” Lorelei hissed, only for every ECHO in the room to receive the update.

“ _That was the defense command center!_ ”

The message was a call to action, Lorelei quickly helping Zer0 out of their bed while Sasha gently pulled Rhys out of his. The pair leaned into one another, each of their arms looping around the other’s back as Rhys turned to look at Lorelei.

“We can get- we can get those systems back up,” Rhys spoke, face seemingly furrowed in confusion. “There’s a few locations, w-we just have to clear out those _bastards_ an-and I can boot everything back up!”

“Where do we need to go?” Amara piped up, stepping forward.

“Uh, it actually- Well, I’ve got to do my part from my office,” he replied, “I’ll have to lock onto them from their control panels while someone manually reboots them.”

“There are no doubt forces already invading, mostly likely at the locations that we need to repair,” Flak stated plainly. “Amara and I will handle that half of the task.”

“I’ll go with these folks,” Lorelei offered, nodding their head. “I know the base a little better, and… well, you lot have too much to discuss, I’d rather not get in the middle of it.”

Despite Lorelei’s words, their tone seemed hesitant. A quick look was exchanged between them and Rhys, but nothing more was said.

“Lead the way then, friend,” Amara prompted, waiting as they shifted first, following close behind.

As the three stepped outside and into the halls that would lead back into the main campus, Fiona called out to them. Lorelei paused inside the door frame, watching as the woman turned to her sister.

“I’m gonna go with them,” Fiona explained slowly, closing the space between them to meet Sasha’s gaze. “You… you take care of Rhys, and when this is all over, we can…”

She visibly stopped herself from turning her head to look at the man, instead closing her eyes briefly and sighing. “I’ll see you soon, just be careful.”

Even as the building itself shook slightly, Sasha smiled to her sister, the exhaustion and dried tears on her face seeming to disappear just for that moment. “Always.”

Without another word, Fiona spun around and followed after the others, only a moment more passing before the remaining three followed suit. As they made their ways through the shuddering structure, Rhys found himself looking to the woman every other second but unable to find a single word to speak until they were back out into the sunlight of Promethea. The orange tinged light of twilight spilled over a courtyard full of action and chaos, Zer0’s gun firing out at any enemy forces that grew too close as the three of them raced toward whatever semblance of safety they could.

It was when they ducked behind a pillar that Rhys finally noticed the way Sasha favored her leg, eyes widening as he could see nothing else except that.

“Sasha, your leg?!” he nearly shouted, ignoring the bullets flying past him as Zer0 picked off the Maliwan invaders.

“What? Oh!” Sasha forced out what was supposed to _sound_ like a laugh as she peeked out from behind the pillar and fired off several well aimed rounds. “It, it uh- Well, shit happens, right? Like you hitting your head! It just happens sometimes!”

“That happened because a Psycho tackled me!” Rhys cried, hardly registering when Zer0’s hand clamped around his arm and led him at a breakneck speed into action once more. “Who tackled you!?”

“It’s really hard to discuss this while we’re shooting and being shot at!” Sasha called as another explosion nearly deafened the three of them. “Let’s wait til we’re in the elevator!”

Rhys ran at her side, his human arm staying around her back after their brief exchange. It didn’t take long for them to reach the main elevator, piling inside with Zer0 still laying down cover fire as they backed inside of it. When the doors finally shut around them, the elevator hummed to life and began to climb, leaving the lower levels far below within only a minute.

As the ring of the elevator sounded out, Zer0 and Sasha readied their guns, only for the Executive Suite to greet them with the dead bodies of Maliwan invaders and a few Children of the Vault littered about as well. Rhys moved first, keeping his arm around Sasha as he hurried past the abandoned desks, over the steps and back into his office. A breath of relief left him, his figure sagging as he looked around, the room ripped apart with the heavy duty bullets from earlier. He didn’t have long to take in the appearance before he hurried to his desk, Sasha close behind him and watching as he activated a holographic screen from the desk itself. 

Despite the few bullets that had collided with the metal upholstery, the holoscreen was only fractionally glitched. Operational as it was, Rhys growled in frustration as his fingers swept across it, various codes, screens, and control panels flashing in and out of view.

“The damn- Sasha, sweetie, can I borrow your ECHO?” he asked, barely glancing to the woman as he instinctively held out his hand.

Embarrassment flushed his face quickly when he didn’t feel her set the requested piece into his palm, his wide eyes looking over to find Sasha instead focused on the photo laying down on the desk. He couldn’t stop the stream of stammers that escaped him as he searched for something to say- he wasn’t sure if it would be an explanation or an apology.

“You changed the picture,” Sasha murmured, her voice soft as she reached to lift the frame that showed the image of only her face. A stray bullet fragment had torn through the entire thing, leaving the wooden frame and picture itself near half of what it used to be, the glass shards scattered across the desk surface.

“I… I couldn’t, uh…” Rhys’ words trailed off as Sasha let go of the ruined item, reaching behind her ear to take her ECHO out and place it in her husband’s hand, but her eyes never left what remained of the photograph.

The lump in Rhys’ throat didn’t go away, so he quickly adjusted the ECHO to his ear and opened a link to their friends.

“Lorelei, can you hear me?” he spoke, his hand never staying still as he opened security camera feeds, flipping through until he found the person in question, watching as they along with the Vault Hunters battled against various Nullhounds.

“ _Loud and clear, buddy, now how the hell do we get this mess turned on?”_ Lorelei called back, the sound of their voice nearly drowned out amidst the gunfire.

“All right, I can see you, and I only see two more of those dog bastards,” Rhys replied, his eyes frantic as they moved over every inch of the screen for whatever movement he may have missed. “Once those are dead, go to the right corner of the console overlooking the window- it’ll ask you for a confirmation code!”

He continued to watch as his allies took down the remaining creatures, a burst of excitement sweeping through him as Lorelei approached the control panel.

“ _All right, it needs an eight digit code!_ ” they growled, all but smacking the keyboard as it blinked a red warning from the monitor.

“Okay, okay, it’s- it’s uh—” Rhys blinked his eyes a few times before clearing his throat, voice quietening as he replied, “Zero-eight, twenty-four, two-eight-four-seven.”

He made no attempt to meet the wide eyed stare of his wife.

Moments later, the sound of the turrets roaring to life brought all three of their gazes to the ceiling to floor windows, watching as Maliwan dropships were blown out of the sky by the automated weapons. Rhys couldn’t help uttering a laugh, grinning as the vessels were easily handled by the courtyard turrets alone.

“You did it! You did it!” Rhys cried, laughing again before turning back to the desk, switching cameras to watch the four move out once more. “We just need the rear defenses! Cu-cut through the tower, I’m reading at least three squadrons still holding it!”

As he poured all of his focus into the task of guiding and aiding the ground team, Sasha shifted away from the desk, her eyes roving the outside view from the windows. She stepped closer to them, peering out into the chaos carrying on below. Her eyes nearly moved past it, but the slight blue glow coming from only a few feet away from the window sill caught her eye. Sasha recognized the item immediately, frowning before picking the lightweight sword out of the floor and turning to approach Zer0. The assassin stood nearly exactly between Rhys’ desk and the doorway that led into the office, waiting with their gaze trained on the woman as she held the weapon out.

“How’d you… lose that?” she asked, her eyes intently focusing on Zer0’s hands as they took the item back.

“We had to retreat, it was a split second choice- I had to lose it,” they replied plainly, their four fingers closing around the hilt tightly.

“The tunnel system?” Sasha inquired softly, barely lifting her gaze then.

“Indeed.”

The woman took a deep breath, looking over her shoulder to find Rhys passionately shouting into his ECHO piece, his hands never staying still even if they weren’t operating the holoscreen. She resisted the urge to smile at the sight, clearing her throat before focusing on Zer0 once more.

“He… He’s not- Um.” She paused, brows furrowing as she became visibly frustrated. “I don’t, I don’t know where to- where to, like, _start_ , I-I guess- How was—”

“Shouldn’t we save this?” Zer0 cut in gently, though their words sounded less than friendly.

She nearly cringed, shrugging her shoulders as her frown deepened. “I just- There’s a lot to, er, go over.”

“You did disappear, Sasha,” they replied. “Several months, at that.”

“Well, then, maybe we can start with what you have to say,” Sasha settled for, her nose wrinkling up slightly as she finally looked straight into the mask they wore.

Zer0 paused for a moment before swiftly sheathing their sword, shifting to cross their arms over their chest. Their head turned, focusing on the oblivious man behind his desk.

“Shall I be frank, or…?”

Sasha quirked a brow, leaving the silence to follow as an answer.

Zer0 snorted softly. “He spent many nights drunk, sad. I was here for him. He nearly lost hope, but I watched him stay focused- stay focused on _you_.”

Sasha said nothing, her focus fluttering to the floor beneath their feet.

“And yet, here you are, you are alive and quite well,” they continued, still watching as Rhys guided the other four. “While he never stopped.”

“Fiona believed it would keep him safe,” Sasha murmured.

“Yet, you are his heart,” Zer0 replied, looking to the woman, staring holes into her face even as she hid it. “And it nearly stopped beating. Did _you_ believe it?”

“It doesn’t matter what I believed then, what we did, we already did,” Sasha spoke again, her words hardly above that of a whisper.

“At least you’re here now,” they remarked, their voice carrying no emotion. “I advise you only do what you feel you should.”

“Lesson learned.”

A silence ensued between the pair, but Rhys soon had their attention, the man practically shouting from his desk, drumming his hands on the table. As they looked over, they found a wide grin on the man’s face, his eyes looking past the holoscreen to his friends. Only a second later did a noticeable beam of light shoot down from orbit, a gasp leaving Sasha as she watched the pure energy tear through the air and into the ship hovering over the Atlas campus.

“Th-they, they- They did it!” he cried out, smacking his palm down on the desk top before spinning around to watch the torn apart vessel crumble to the ground, letting out another laugh.

“Was that- holy shit, was that it?” Sasha asked, her own voice filled with awe.

“That was it! Now that bastard Katagawa’s gonna go running!” Rhys cheered, pumping his fists in the air only to suddenly stumble, catching himself on the desk. “Oh, that was a bad move!”

“Probably your head,” Zer0 spoke with a small chuckle, starting toward the desk with Sasha at their hip. “You should get to laying down, now that this is—”

Zer0 could not finish their words as the middle window frame shattered, sending the fragments of glass flying. Rhys yelped, lifting his prosthetic arm to shield his face as Zer0 leapt forward, nearly vaulting the desk to grab Rhys firmly under his shoulders and heave him back across the desk. Rhys leaned into his friend’s chest as he dared to peek over his arm, blinking rapidly as the cuts on his face began to sting.

“Was that- was that an aftershock!?” Sasha nearly screamed, pushing against Rhys’ chest to usher both he and Zer0 further from the window.

“Only one blew up, it was premeditated,” Zer0 stated, letting go of Rhys before pushing the man behind their much taller figure. They drew their sword and turned to pass their gun to Rhys, quickly refocusing on the window that stood ominously empty. “Don’t let your guard down.”

The loud clacking of Sasha’s gun as she loaded it was the only thing that dared to break the silence for a long few seconds. If any of them tried hard enough, they would have heard the beating from within one anothers’ chests. The dread lingered for another few moments before Sasha pointed her barrel toward a briefly appearing cluster of digistruct particles, firing off several quick rounds to no apparent reaction.

“Your eyes deceive you,” Zer0 hissed. “An illusion is active- we must shoot to kill.”

“An illusion?!” Rhys cried, looking between Zer0 and Sasha. “Li-like- like your thing!?”

“Be generous with those bullets, Rhys,” Sasha growled, her eyes never staying in one place for long.

Another long moment followed with no sign of movement. When the lamp on Rhys’ desk suddenly shifted, both Sasha and Rhys released several shots towards it, but nothing happened except the desk shifting backwards on the floor panel, opening the ramp that led onto a rooftop below. Zer0 remained still, sword at the ready, their breathing completely silent.

“Get out here and fight, you piece of shit!” Sasha yelled, firing a full line of bullets around the opposite side of the room. “You picked the wrong fight, asshole!”

A yelp from behind the pair brought both of their heads swivelling around, finding a replica of Zer0 standing behind Rhys with the same blade held up against his throat.

“Did I?”

In a second, both the replica and Rhys disappeared in a burst of particles, leaving Sasha to scream, rushing to stand where they had just been. Her eyes stared into the carpeted floor, searching desperately until suddenly, the desk was shifting again.

“ _RHYS!_ ”

* * *

Rhys hit the ground with a painful thud, everything in his vision spinning as he struggled to climb off the cold hard rooftop. He groaned, shifting onto his hands and knees when he realized he couldn’t stand, only for a boot to solidly connect with his hip and send him rolling over onto his back with a cry of pain.

“You know, I really, _really_ liked you, Rhys!” came a distorted voice not unlike Zer0’s. The replica’s hand reached up, throwing the helmet away to reveal the face of Katagawa Jr., the man’s eyes full of fire. “And you know, I thought we were closer than this- can’t believe you never told me you were _married!_ ”

As he uttered the last word, Katagawa heaved his sword down, missing as Rhys rolled out of its reach.

“All you ever wanted to talk about was work!” Rhys countered, shifting what he thought was far enough away to stand up. When Katagawa’s foot connected with the back of his thigh, he realized he had been mistaken, hitting the ground yet again. “And besides, you’re not my _type!_ ”

Despite being floored, Rhys reeled around, his prosthetic deploying a sphere from the palm that he threw at his adversary’s face. Much to both of their surprise, it smacked nearly dead center into Katagawa’s forehead, leaving him to utter a scream that was a mixture of annoyance and pain. Rhys waited no time to once again stumble to his feet as Katagawa attempted an advance, only for the flashbang to light up the area. Even with the Maliwan leader disorientated by sound and sight, Rhys found himself losing balance as his ears rang, the world around him swaying an uncomfortable amount as he fell to his knees.

“All of this is just delaying the inevitable!” Katagawa roared as he advanced.

“If the inevitable is you getting your ass kicked, I’m actually trying to speed that along,” Rhys replied, though his voice had lost any ounce of the brazen tone it carried only moments earlier. Even as his enemy grew closer, Rhys could do little more than collapse onto his palms. “Really- really not enjoying this part!”

Katagawa only laughed as he stood beside Rhys’ prone figure, lifting his sword to barely scrape the underside of Rhys’ chin. “Your friends are too slow, Rhys. Your wife is an interesting character, though- I really liked her attitude.”

“Shut the _fuck_ up,” Rhys spat, not looking over no matter how much he wanted to.

“I’d rip your tongue out if I had the time to dilly dally,” the Maliwan commander sighed before pressing the blade into Rhys’ throat. “You should have joined the family, Rhys.”

Rhys forced his eyes shut as the stinging pain only added to the other various bleeding cuts on his body, not daring to swallow the lump in his throat as he braced his body for whatever would come next. That, however, was the sound of a shotgun blast, the fragments hitting Katagawa and nearly breaking his shield immediately as he stumbled past Rhys and into cover. Rhys nearly froze, finding himself unable to move except to turn his head and find Zer0, blade to blade with Katagawa only a few feet away. He had no time to react as he was heaved to his feet, Sasha pulling him close before aiming the shotgun at Katagawa again.

“This is just hilarious!” Katagawa shouted as the bullet fragments struck his shield again, deflecting Zer0’s sword and stepping backwards as the assassin pressed forward. “A thief who speaks in riddles, a has-been Hyperion, and some Pandoran scum! What a family this makes!”

Sasha pulled Rhys behind the nearest object, pushing him against the metal before shoving the shotgun into his shaking hands.

“Baby, I need you to stay here,” she instructed firmly, meeting his frantic eyes. “Listen- you’re gonna be okay, just keep that gun ready to shoot and don’t you _dare_ let him get near you again.”

“H-he— I-I—”

“We’ve got it from here, Rhys, you’ve done enough,” Sasha continued, her hands staying against the gun as she held it to his chest. “Stay. Down.”

Rhys managed a nod, watching as Sasha gave him a smile and then rushed out from cover, only to duck behind a nearby metal pipe. Zer0 and Katagawa continued trading blows, their swords bouncing off each others’ shields until Zer0’s gave, shattering around their figure. Katagawa lifting his blade to bring it down, only for a burst of shock energy to erupt from the dying energy of the shield, freezing Katagawa in place as he trembled from the electricity. Zer0’s leg lifted high, slamming the bottom of their boot into their enemy’s chest, sending him to the ground on his back.

“You’re a total bitch,” Zer0 sneered as they pointed their blade at the Maliwan leader’s face, “And now you’re going to _die_ like a total bitch.”

“Hrrgh- not- not _today!_ ” The words are punctuated by Katagawa disappearing yet again, his blade left on the ground.

Zer0 reacted immediately, looking to Sasha as she approached, “Catch!” they shouted, sending their blade through the air and into Sasha’s waiting hand.

In an elegant movement, she forced the blade straight forward through the air, a grin spreading across her face as the unmistakable feeling of cutting through flesh and bone met with her push.

All at once, the invisibility around Katagawa’s suit dissipated, revealing Zer0’s sword to have cut straight through his stomach, blood coating the end half of the blade that protruded. As the man struggled, gagging with the blood that filled his lungs, Sasha yanked the weapon and his body backwards, kicking his feet out from beneath him. Her hand released the hilt, instead gripping a handful of the man’s hair to pull his head back, making sure his wide eyes looked into hers.

“This is what a real family is.”

Only a moment later, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, Sasha letting him hit the ground with a rough shove. She absently swiped her hands across her hips before looking over, finding Zer0 pulling Rhys up and into their arms. She rushed over, watching as Rhys pressed his bloodied palm into the front of his neck.

“We did it, baby, you’re safe,” Sasha whispered, nodding frantically as she ripped her cropped jacket off, pushing it against Rhys’s neck. He shifted to press it into his wound, nodding back as his eyes fluttered shut.

“He needs a medkit,” Zer0 murmured, pulling the man against their chest as their hands carried him beneath his shoulders and knees.

“He won’t want one for that,” Sasha replied, pouting as the man nodded in confirmation. “Come on, baby, we’re going home. For real, this time.”

The trio walked past their enemy’s body, no final glances spared as they made their way to the metal doors that led back inside. Zer0 punched in the codes, albeit somewhat awkwardly, and as the metal screeched open, they were greeted by their friends that had split off earlier.

“Oh my god, is he okay!?” Fiona cried, racing forward to the man, looking over his body before looking over to Sasha.

“He’s gonna be okay,” Sasha spoke softly, pushing past her sister to one of the various crates stacked with smaller boxes. She pulled out a brown bottle, shaking it to ensure it was what she wanted before hurrying back to Rhys with the item held out to him.

“N-no needles,” he protested, his voice barely more than a whine.

“It’s not, baby, look,” she murmured, holding it to where he could properly see. While still unmistakably a Dr. Zed product, the item was only a bottle with a screw on lid, the man seeing that quickly.

“Only a salve, Rhys,” Zer0 further reassured him.

The man gave in with a heavy sigh, allowing Sasha to quickly dab a glob of the first aid gel over the shallow wound on his neck. With it covered, the woman turned to face the others in the room with them. She searched the face’s of the newly acquainted Vault Hunters, frowning momentarily before stepping to the nearby computer station. The Atlas troop shifted out of her way with ease, watching as she tapped in a few commands. To the computers left, the telltale burst of digistruction lit up the area with blue, dissolving around the outline of the Vault Key fragment, the item solidifying itself as Sasha held out a hand to catch it.

“All right, here it is,” she declared, unable to keep the exhaustion out of her voice. “I hope you don’t need anything else.”

Amara took the object, eyes roving over it before focusing on Sasha once again. “It has been a delight to fight alongside you all- hopefully it will not be the last time.”

Sasha managed a tight smile to the pair before simply being on her way with Zer0, Rhys, and Fiona in tow. It was only when they reached the elevator, all of their figures tense with exhaustion, did Sasha realize Lorelei had followed them. As they all loaded into the elevator, Sasha absently leaned into Zer0’s frame, closing her eyes for the briefest of moments before opening them again to focus on the floors of the Atlas facility that went by.

“Did you change your bedroom?” Sasha asked out loud, nearly regretting it.

“It’s- it’s th-the same.” Rhys’ voice remained a whisper.

The group continued in silence until the elevator rang out again. They all disembarked wordlessly, Zer0 leading out into the penthouse without pausing. The assassin moved past the furniture of the living room and turned into the master bedroom to promptly deposit Rhys into the bed. Sasha followed directly into the bedroom with the other two waiting a few feet beyond the doorway itself.

“Fi, will you bring us bandages?” Sasha called as she sat down onto the neatly made bed, scooting closer to Rhys’ figure. “Kitchen, cabinet above the refrigerator.”

While her sister tended the task, Sasha looked over to Zer0, her eyes following their movement as they shifted to sit opposite Rhys.

“Will you stay with us?” Sasha asked softly, barely managing a glance up to the other’s impassive helmet.

“That was the idea, though I had not yet asked you,” they answered, turning their focus back to Rhys as he struggled to keep his eyes open. “Rhys, is that alright?”

“Of course, buddy,” Rhys mumbled, blinking his eyes rapidly before stifling a yawn. “Hell, roll up under these blankets- we got ourselves a homemade dog pile.”

Sasha couldn’t help a smile, her eyes quickly searching the man’s face for any noticeable signs of pain. “This bed’s always been big enough for three people,” she remarked, laughing quietly at the expression Rhys made.

“What the hell are we trying to say here?” he asked, looking at Zer0 with a raised brow.

“That you are tired,” Zer0 replied, reaching their hand over to lightly pat the top of the man’s head. “You should just go to sleep and let us work now.”

Rhys squinted at his friend. “Work as in what?”

“We still have to bandage you up, dumbass,” Fiona interjected as she walked through the doorway with the plastic box of medical supplies in hand. Her gaze never shifted to meet anyone else’s, simply passing the box to Sasha before retreating to the doorway once again.

Rhys sighed softly, doing his best to relax against the pillow beneath his head. “You two can come i-in, you know.”

Even after saying as much, no one shifted aside from Sasha, her hands digging through the supplies to pull out a roll of gauze. Rhys’ brows furrowed, grinding his teeth behind tight lips as Zer0 maneuvered his head for Sasha to start winding the soft bandaging around his throat. As she finished tucking it in, the wrap loose but secure, he finally had the courage to swallow the lump in his throat before speaking.

“Okay, s-so, let me go ahead and rephrase what I said- if we don’t _all_ sit down, now, we’re never going to stop being so damn awkward.”

It was slow going, but eventually Fiona shifted to take a seat at the end of the bed, Lorelei stiffly taking a seat beside her. A moment passed as Sasha crossed her legs, clearing her throat before glancing to Zer0. They sat upright, moving without jostling Rhys to sit parallel to him, their hip pressed to his.

Silence encompassed the group, and it seemed it would carry on if not for Rhys’ pronounced groan of annoyance.

“Okay! Someone needs to start talking!” he practically whined. “Are we in the apology stage yet? Can we move it along?!”

“I-I’m sorry, Rhys,” Fiona finally spoke, forcing her eyes up to meet his. “My idea. My fault. All of it.”

“Now was that so hard?” Zer0 quipped, looking to the woman.

“I’m sorry that I followed, th-that I did the same,” Sasha added, her voice far smaller than her sister’s. Also unlike Fiona, she couldn’t look up to meet Rhys’ gaze, even as he practically bore holes into the side of her face. “It was a mistake and I- I know it’s not, i-it’s not just- Things aren’t going to be th-the same, and-and I—”

She stopped and took a deep breath. Rhys found himself frozen until she finally managed to just barely lift her head and meet his gaze. Tears had welled up yet again in her eyes, threatening to run over any moment.

“I-I’m never, _never_ , going to leave y-you again, I’ll be with you for- f-for- until you don’t want me to be an-anymore,” she continued, her voice shaking. “I promise. I swear, o-on my own life, tha-that that’s true.”

Her words were met with quiet, and it was visibly unbearable for her. Rhys forced himself through the shock, pulling himself up albeit with some support from Zer0, and reached out to grip Sasha’s knee in his hand. Her eyes followed his hand the entire time, watching as his thumb rubbed against the fabric of her pants.

“Sasha, there is nothing- _nothing_ in this world, o-or any others, actually- that would- that would make me…” He trailed off, taking a deep breath before shaking his head. “I… You broke my heart. Y-you both did. But I- I won’t ever s-stop- I won’t ever s- _stop…_ ”

“Rhys, I—”

“You’re my whole world, S-Sasha, my whole heart,” he continued, his words quietening. “I want you to stay with me. I wa-want you by my side, to b-be by _your_ side- for the rest of- we-well, the rest of f-forever.”

Sasha nodded her head, sniffling before hesitantly reaching her own hand to lay over his. Her fingers slipped in between his, their matching wedding bands softly clicking against one another as their fingertips rested against each others’ knuckles.

“You won’t be alone again,” Sasha whimpered, meeting his own wet eyes. “Whatever it takes. I’ll make it up to you.”

Rhys smiled, his breath hitching as he squeezed her hand. “Let’s start by… getting some rest.”

A moment passed, their fingers interlocked as their gaze never broke. Rhys turned to Fiona, nodding firmly to her, his smile fading.

“The upstairs room- use it tonight,” he instructed, his voice firm. He turned to Lorelei, the smile returning as he met their gaze. “Lorelei, thank you so much for all your help. Honestly, I want to tell you to take the next, like- four years off. Bu-but if you could just- if you could just, like, relax? For the night at least? That would be really cool.”

Lorelei managed a chuckle, nodding their head. “Anything for you, boss man. You tryin’ to invite me to the sleepover, or you just want me on my arse for a few hours?”

Rhys gave a small laugh at his friend’s words. “Oh, dude, you can bunk with Fiona for all I care. I-I’d love the company.”

“Would _Fiona_ love the company?” Lorelei repeated, looking to the woman in question with a quirked brow.

The woman merely shrugged lightly. “I-I talk in my sleep.”

“Makes up for all the talking you don’t do when you’re awake!” Lorelei chirped, pushing themself off the bed and offering a hand to help Fiona up. “I’m sure this lot wants their privacy now anyway.”

The added comment was accompanied by a wink to Zer0, who seemed to lack a reaction, only looking to Rhys and Sasha.

“You’ve been through a lot- today has been a long day,” the assassin spoke after Fiona and Lorelei were gone. They climbed out of the bed, throwing back the top cover before gesturing at Rhys. “You both need to rest.”

Sasha smiled softly before gently pushing Rhys toward his side of the bed. “They’re right. Here, let me—”

As Sasha turned to crawl to her side of the bed, she winced, her leg stiffening with a look toward the limb. Rhys gasped, his hands reaching toward her figure, searching her leg with a panicked look in his eyes.

“Y-your leg, does it- is it hurting badly?” Rhys babbled, trying to move closer only for Zer0 to push him gently onto his back.

In the same movement, Zer0 moved to the other side of the bed and practically scooped Sasha up, holding her to their chest with one arm and using their opposite arm to pul the blanket back the same way as they had before. They put Sasha down carefully, looking to her tender leg with a soft hum.

“Pain pills,” was all they uttered before reaching over to dig around the contents of the medical kit. They quickly found the rattling plastic bottle, dumping a few into Sasha’s palms before disappearing into the bathroom connected to the bedroom.

Sasha propped herself up on one elbow, her hand cupping the medicine as she looked to Rhys. The sound of running water made her smile, searching her husband’s wide eyed face.

“Y-you never told me how you hurt your leg,” Rhys murmured, studying his wife’s expression with equal attention.

She smiled to him, nodding her head as Zer0 emerged once again with a small disposable cup of water. “When… when Fiona went to meet you at your office, I was waiting outside HQ,” she explained, taking the cup with a nod to her friend. “I was hiding, I was back up, basically- and I was supposed to signal Fiona when I was safe, but then- then everything just kind of… fell apart.”

She took a slow drink of water with the medicine, pausing to stare into the paper cup with a small sigh. “She lost her communicator- the one I was gonna signal her on. I’m guessing she lost it when you guys ditched the office.”

Rhys paused as well, blinking rapidly. “H-hold on, y-you were- you were right outside Atlas?”

Sasha cringed slightly, unable to look away from the remaining water in her cup. “Yeah. Yeah, I was… I came in right behind her. Pretty much.”

“Oh.”

A silence grew between them, Zer0 standing wordlessly at Sasha’s side of the bed. Their focus drifted between the two for a moment before holding their hand out to the woman. She glanced over, drinking the rest of her water before passing it to Zer0. She sat up straight and pulled the medical kit into her lap, tucking the items back into place before sealing it once again, watching as Zer0 took it as well, exiting the room again.

“It was that bitch Katagawa,” she spoke again, her words slow. “He must have been trying to impersonate Zer0, he hardly said anything and was running around fighting just like they do. When I- I joined Lorelei outside, and we fought through some of his forces and then we pushed into your office. I didn’t- I didn’t see him quick enough.”

Rhys’ face seemed to redden a fraction, sucking in a deep breath through his nose. “I wish I could have- gah, I wish I could have knocked his shit in.”

Sasha smiled gently, looking over to the man with a quirked brow. “The fact that you evaded him so easily, and- I mean, Zer0 heard you over the ECHO. You were kind of sexy, being such a smartass.”

He faltered immediately, the redness in his face flooding to his cheeks. “I- Oh, u-uh, yo-you guys actually- you actually, uh, heard all that?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sasha replied, reaching over to push Rhys onto his back, patting the pillow before scooting a bit closer. She crossed one arm over his shoulder, resting her chin on the top of her bare, grinning at Rhys’ flushed face. “Was that you defending my honor, like a gentleman, when he started talking about me?”

Her words were practically a purr, eyes gleaming as he stammered.

“We-well, I- Well! He was- he’s a creep! An-and a dick!” Rhys ventured, brows furrowing. “Also, h-he made fun of all of us! So, I’m glad you two got to kick his ass!”

“Mhm.” Sasha’s smile faltered for just a moment before she shifted, propping her arm up beneath herself to lean forward, leaving a quick kiss on the corner of his jaw. “I’ll never leave you to deal with that kind of thing by yourself, never again. I’m sorry we disappeared.”

Despite the brightened shade on his face, Rhys met her gaze steadily, nodding his head before turning onto his side, reaching his cybernetic arm around her figure to pull her closer. She fit against his frame with ease, her forehead finding its home against his sternum as she looped her arm around his back. They maneuvered with a grace that only came with muscle memory, his flesh arm soon under her head with his fingers brushing over her hair while her fingers slipped under the untucked button up, her nails tracing idle shapes into the skin of his lower back.

“Tomorrow morning,” Rhys whispered, his lips resting against the top of her head, “will you stay with me? In bed, un-until I wake up?”

“Of course,” she whispered back, blinking back the tears in her eyes. “Let’s- let’s sleep in. Atlas… Atlas will be okay. It’ll be here when we wake up.”

Rhys sighed softly, shifting to gently tuck his fingers under her chin and lift her head to meet her eyes. “Sasha, the only thing I need to be here when I wake up is you.”

Their eyes searched one another for any hint of doubt, of uncertainty. There was a long moment that passed in silence before Rhys shifted ever so slightly, bringing his lips to softly meet Sasha’s. The sensation brought a fluttering to his chest, something familiar but something he hadn’t felt in what felt like an eternity. Sasha shifted closer, her hand moving up to wrap around Rhys’ wrists, and that simple moment felt like it would never end.

Sasha was the first to pull away, her brows furrowed, searching Rhys’ face to ensure she hadn’t imagined the feeling of wetness on his face. A gasp escaped her at the sight of tears on her husband’s cheeks, watching for a moment as Rhys tried to wipe them away.

“S-sorry, I just, I—”

She reached up, stopping his hand gently before pulling it to her lips, leaving kisses over his knuckles. “Don’t apologize,” she murmured, scooting forward again, only this time shifting further up the bed to pull Rhys’ head into her chest.

He melted completely, burying his face against her shirt as his arms wrapped around her smaller figure, squeezing her tightly as he sniffled. Sasha looped her arms around him, one hand stroking the back of his neck while the other combed through his hair with a softness that he had missed so dearly.

“You can go to sleep, now, Rhys,” she whispered, leaning down to kiss the top of his head, her voice shaking as he sniffled again from the safety of her chest. “I promise I won’t go anywhere without you. I’ll be here until you wake up.”

Rhys could only nod against her frame.

“I love you, baby,” Sasha breathed, blinking away the tears in her eyes. “Get some sleep. I’m right behind you.”

“I love you,” he mumbled into her chest, his hands curling against her back as he took a shuddering breath. “I’ll- I’ll see you tomorrow. Okay?”

“Tomorrow.”

Rhys eventually nodded off, his breathing evening out and being replaced by gentle snoring before very long. Sasha counted the seconds, watching the night grow darker through the curtained windows until out of the corner of her eye a familiar figure stood in the doorway once again.

“Is he sleeping now?”

Sasha only nodded, tucking her chin against the top of his head again.

Silently Zer0 moved to the bedside, crouching from Rhys’ side to look into the tired face of his wife. Sasha met their gaze the best that she could, her eyelids fluttering as they seemed to wait expectantly.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind you sleeping with us,” she whispered, managing the slightest of smiles.

Despite the invitation, they did not shift. Their head tilted, apparently watching Rhys for a long few moments while his body shifted with every breath. The assassin carefully climbed into the bed after several breaths had passed by, hardly stirring either of its occupants as they did. They laid on their back, turning their head to look across Rhys’ messy hair to find Sasha’s green eyes once more.

“We can’t bear to lose you twice,” they spoke, their own words a whisper now. “He wouldn’t survive.”

Sasha sniffled, forcing her eyes shut before kissing Rhys’ hair again. “I won’t. I promise. I promise you and him.”

“Good.”

Sasha wasn’t sure if it was because she had simply, _finally_ closed her eyes, or the words exchanged, but her mind finally began to relax. The arm draped over Rhys shifted, flicking her fingers at Zer0, the gesture slow and exhausted. A moment passed before Zer0 shifted in turn, their own fingers curling around hers, leaving a brief squeeze as the woman sighed quietly.

Promethea turned the same as it always had, but the sun washed over a family reunited.


End file.
